Five of the eight members on the committee tasked with summarizing the survey responses said they felt Ikenberry was not meeting the expectations of the job.

Provost Russ Moore nevertheless reappointed Ikenberry to another five-year term shortly before the faculty survey results were made public.

Some professors reported in the survey that they would leave CU if the dean's contract was renewed.

"Dean Ikenberry has behaved in a manner that is, in my opinion, unethical, and in some instances clearly discriminatory," one survey respondent wrote. "He has shown repeatedly that he does not fully value the capacity of women at Leeds; in some cases he denigrates women. Although he presents himself as an advocate of diversity, he appears incapable of responding positively when challenged with different views, especially when challenged by women."

It was not clear from the summary of the survey results exactly what Ikenberry was doing or saying to elicit that type of comment.

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In 2015-16, 18 percent of CU's tenure-track business faculty were women, according to the university. That number will increase to 21 percent when a new female finance professor begins working at CU in the fall. Forty-four percent of business school staffers are women, officials said.

The faculty reviews, along with other factors, are taken into consideration by the administrator's supervisor.

'Inclusive work environment'

Ikenberry said he didn't "quite know how to react" to the comments about his treatment of women.

"I'm not able to really respond to the anonymous nature of some of those comments," he said Tuesday. "We work hard to create a positive and inclusive work environment for everyone and to the extent that there are those who disagree or have concerns, it's something that I, too, share in concern."

Asked if he thought the comments were fair, Ikenberry said he is respectful of everyone's feelings.

"We've made quite a bit of change and it's been agreeable to some and disagreeable to others," he said.

Moore, Ikenberry's supervisor, said the faculty review was one of many factors he considered when he made the decision to reappoint the dean.

"It was one piece of it, it's something we pay attention to, but in the balance, I had numerous statements from faculty and his advisory board suggesting that he's the best dean we've had in a decade or more," Moore said.

Moore said Ikenberry increased diversity among undergraduate business students, attracted more academically talented freshmen, increased the job placement rate for business students and improved the school's ranking.

Asked for his thoughts on the comments about Ikenberry's treatment of women, Moore said: "I take them seriously, but from my perspective, given that I work with David very closely on a weekly basis, those comments aren't congruent with what I have observed."

'Best dean we have had in decades'

The survey results weren't all negative. Professors who shared their feelings were pleased with their dean's active promotion of business school initiatives and his responses to student concerns. They also reported that Ikenberry rewarded high-quality research, scholarship and creative work and provided leadership, infrastructure and resources for service.

"Being a dean is not an easy job," one respondent wrote. "Ikenberry has shown strong leadership and has been moving the business school in the right direction since his arrival."

In general, professors who chose to write comments on the survey had mixed feelings about Ikenberry.

"Best dean we have had in decades. Just wish he could find a way to respect women," one respondent wrote.

"There were no items specifically addressing women faculty in the current survey, but there were five comments ... that contained the word 'women.' All of them were negative," the committee members wrote. "The dean's relationship with women faculty and staff is a major concern of the committee."

Reached by phone Tuesday morning, Sharon Matusik, a CU professor of management and entrepreneurship, declined to answer questions about Ikenberry, saying that she didn't have anything to add beyond what the committee wrote in its report.

Other women, and some men, in the department also declined to comment for this story.

Michael Stutzer, a CU finance professor, said he participated in the survey and agreed with the provost's decision to reappoint Ikenberry.

"There have been a lot of new programs instituted since he got here and instituting a new program in any school can take some doing because you have to allocate resources to it, faculty have to be hired, courses have to be designed," Stutzer said.

He said he hasn't heard anything about the dean's treatment of women.

"I have not personally had experiences like that, but I'm a man, so you could easily say, 'Well, you haven't walked in their shoes,'" he said.

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